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The executive summary of the “Brandon” report into prolonged sexual abuse of intellectually disabled residents at a HSE-run disability centre in Donegal has been published, despite the fact some affected families have yet to see it.
One woman, whose brother was one of the 18 intellectually disabled adults sexually assaulted in his home, said publication without ensuring families had seen the summary was “insensitive” and showed “a total disregard for families”.
A second family was told on Wednesday evening they would receive the report summary in the post on Thursday morning. They say Thursday’s post “has come and gone” and they hope to receive a copy on Friday.
The report, completed by the National Independent Review Panel (NIRP) in August 2020, finds that a former resident, given the pseudonym Brandon, perpetrated at least 108 sexual assaults on upwards of 18 intellectually disabled adults, most of them non-verbal, between 2003 and 2016.
In a statement to accompany the report, the HSE said on Thursday it would “like to apologise to residents and their families for the failings in care at a HSE residential and day care service for adults with intellectual disability in the North West.
“The HSE fully accepts the findings of the National Independent Review Panel (the Brandon Report).
“On receipt of the Report, the HSE acted immediately to seek assurance as to the current safety of the residents within the relevant service.
“The HSE’s primary concern is the current safety of residents. Regular safeguarding meetings take place within the service, which has undergone significant reforms in advancing the Community Healthcare Organisation’s strategy for disability services generally, and specifically in response to the Report findings, building on ongoing improvements in that specific service prior to the report.
“The residents of the service and their families remain our priority. All those affected are, and have been, in receipt of a range of multidisciplinary supports. These supports continue to be provided locally, with oversight by senior HSE management at national level.
The NIRP report says the “common strategy” to manage Brandon – to move him from ward to ward – “simply gave him access to a new cohort of clients whom he proceeded to assault until he was moved on again”.
None of the families was told about the abuse of their loved ones until December 2018, a decade after the abuse in some cases. While several have called for publication of the full report, the HSE has maintained its stance that it will publish only the executive summary.
The report says Brandon’s assaults continued “unabated” and with the “full knowledge” of management.
Nursing staff tried repeatedly to stop the abuse, reporting it to management, it says. In 2011 a number of experts recommended Brandon’s contact with other residents be stopped and his victims’ families be told. The assaults, however, continued and families were not informed for several years.
Brandon was moved to Brentwood Manor, a private nursing home in Convoy, Co Donegal in May 2016 and died there last year.
The abuse came to light in 2016 when a whistleblower approached local independent TD, Thomas Pringle. He reported it to HSE management in the county and the then minister for disabilities, Finian McGrath. A look-back review, completed in 2018, led to the HSE commissioning the NIRP review.
A senior source told The Irish Times that following consultations with gardaí, the 13-page executive summary would be provided to the families of Brandon’s victims on Wednesday in advance of publication.
Staff at Ard Greine Court campus in Stranorlar, where the abuse took place, will get copies and be briefed on Wednesday.
The Minister of State for disabilities, Anne Rabbitte, is awaiting legal advice from the Attorney General as to whether she can publish the full report.